Complex Mission
by Nautica7mk
Summary: It’s summer time and an assignment forces Chloe to put Lois and Clark on a mission neither is looking forward to.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Complex Mission  
**Author**: Nadia Mack  
**Rated**: PG-13  
**Disclaimer**: I Own Nothing  
**Timeline**: Post-Season 4  
**Summary**: It's summer time, and an assignment forces Chloe to put Lois and Clark on a mission neither is looking forward to.  
**Author's Note**: This idea just came to me, and it was too amusing to pass up.

Chloe Sullivan has been working part time for the Metropolis Journal for the last three weeks. Since then, she has familiarized herself with the inner-workings of professional journalism, but her high school articles alone still aren't enough for her to be taken seriously.

Now, Chloe got an anonymous tip that one of Metropolis' local hotels is being used for drug trafficking, and in order to find the truth, she needed help, and she found that help by trying desperately to convince two people.

Chloe had just finished explaining her plan to Lois Lane and Clark Kent.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," says Lois, her mind still processing what her cousin is asking her to do. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You don't possibly think…" Clark chimed in. Like Lois, he was having a hard time grasping his best friend's ludicrous plan.

They paused…

Then one look at Chloe Sullivan's very serious expression, they jumped up protesting.

"Absolutely not!" and "Never going to happen!" Lois and Clark say simultaneously. Chloe's plan was not in their list of things to do in their lifetime.

"Guys, come on! I need people I can trust"

"Then **use** Lana, instead!" Lois says loudly. "They'd **be** perfect for each other," she adds with sarcasm, knowing full well the history between the two and the train wreck it was, but Lois didn't notice Clark's very annoyed and aghast reaction when she recommended the ex-girlfriend.

Chloe sighed at her cousin's stubbornness. "I love Lana, I do, but the girl has too much baggage. I need this to be flawless, not dramatic," she admitted.

"Chloe, isn't there anybody else?" Clark interrupted; he wanted nothing to do with Lana or anything about her. He was so tired of yearning for something that's only caused him pain and gave him little happiness. He was just sorry that no one else could see that he had moved on.

Anyway, with all things said and done, Lois was the last person he'd ever want to be caught in that position with.

"I **trust** the two of you with my life," Chloe continues to encourage. "There really **isn't** anyone else better for the job. Whether the two of you **like** it or not, you work well together, **admit** it," she accused.

"Just because we've helped with an article here and there, that doesn't constitute what you're asking us to do," Lois argues with her.

"Yeah, what she said," Clark dumbly repeated what Lois just pointed out.

"Smooth, Smallville" Lois says trying not to roll her eyes. Farm boy can be so dense some times.

Sighing, "Please," Chloe says giving her best heart felt facial expression. She needed them to do this.

Lois and Clark gave each other shaking glances for a very long moment before giving up and saying yes.

Defeated, "All right," says Lois in a monotonous tone.

"Fine," says Clark, not liking the idea one bit, but he'll do it anyway just for his best friend.

"We'll do it," Lois added, her tone still monotonous.

Chloe jumped with great excitement, and she hugged each one of them. This was going to be the story of a lifetime.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," Chloe announced much too happily, getting a very aggravated look from Lane and Kent.

"Yay," Clark says with barely any enthusiasm. 

Lois puts a hand to her temple to seize an incoming migraine, not that it worked. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun," she expressed blandly.

_Two hours later…_

Walking into the Ramada Inn together with fake smiles plastered on their faces, Lois whom is pretending to be Teri gives a sideways glance to her husband that Clark Kent is pretending to be.

"Explain why we agreed to do this again?" she asks without turning to him.

Clark, who is now Dean, is looking for their targets. "Because Chloe is our best friend and we love her very much," he reminded her, and in a way, reminding himself.

"Right," she nods, still reeling over the fact that she's actually doing this insane, albeit brilliant so-long-as-she-never-knows idea.

They were the last two people on earth Chloe should have put together. It shouldn't even have been an option.

But here they were.

Pretending to be a married couple.

She already knew this was going to be a long weekend.

At the front desk, they plastered their smiles once again and were greeted by a very bubbly desk clerk.

"Good morning, what can I do for you folks?" the blonde clerk asked.

Clark briefly stumbled with his words, even having to adjust the glasses Lois actually thought would be a great disguise. He had argued why she couldn't do it, and he was met with a mocking, 'because I'm your wife' response.

"Yes, actually. We have a reservation," Clark points to himself and Lois. "Teri and Dean Cain"

**To be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

As Lois and Clark reached their room, they are left with their mouths hanging open. The moment they stepped in, Lois knew what was coming, but to see it so… real and in such detail made the situation look a little more ridiculous.

Lois suddenly burst out laughing while Clark continued to remain speechless, his eyes fixated clearly in the center of the room, where a circular-shaped bed resided.

"Is that real?" he pointed out absentmindedly, he felt the sudden need to gauge his eyes out. How did he let Chloe talk him into this?

Lois couldn't stop laughing. "This is the **most** harebrained plan Chloe **has** ever **thought** up!" She was holding her stomach, this was just too funny. "Next time, we reserve the room"

Clark looks at her distressed. "Would you **stop** laughing, **this** is serious." He points to the bed. "**It's** circular… and…" His eyes go even wider. "Pink?"

She cocks her head to the side, holding her laughter in this time. "Really, I haven't noticed," she replied smart alecky.

"This **is** crazy!" he exclaimed picking up his stuff and headed out the door when he felt Lois' sudden grasp of his arm twirl him around.

"Oh no, you don't. We promised Chloe for some kind of substantial evidence, remember, **this**…" she gestured to the bed and emphasizing it. "Is part of the promise," she finished.

Lois couldn't apprehend how she suddenly became the rational one out of the two; it was normally Clark's domain.

"Fine!" Clark surrendered. "But I'm not taking…" he looks at the circular pink bed in detestation. "**That** so-called thing of a bed. I'll take the couch"

Lois gave out a low chuckle, an amused smile stretched across her face. Maybe this mission won't be so bad after all if she can take pleasure at Clark's awkward circumstance.

"Clark, what couch?"

Another bombshell Clark didn't need, he turned to survey the area, hoping against all hope he found what he was looking for.

Searching in all corners, it was no use.

"Oh god"

Lois tries desperately to hold her laughter in again.

"Oh, relax Smallville. It's **not** like you haven't slept next to a girl before," she exclaims.

One embarrassed look from Clark Kent sent Lois' mind in reverse.

"Oh," she only said, realizing the implication of her words, or in his case, the lack there of.

Clark slump his shoulders in obvious discomfort and looked slightly away, avoiding eye contact with his pretend wife.

"So you've never…" she trailed.

Clark nods sheepishly.

"At all?" she adds.

He shyly nods again, almost mortified at the line of questioning. He's had a few close calls, but it's never happened. He didn't even think it's at all possible.

Feeling completely exposed in front of her, Clark walks pass her with obvious frustration. He was immediately surprised that Lois made no move to tease him about his inexperience.

Lois was strangely sympathetic towards Clark's perplexed situation. Having to get to know him while she lived at the Kent Farm with his parents, she hadn't figured that he was that innocent considering that he pined naively for Lana Lang, made out with a scientifically impaired bimbo and practically married a psychologically troubled girl.

After remembering those occurrences in amusement, she grinned. "Don't worry, Smallville, I'll be gentle." Then she quickly stuck her fist in her mouth after realizing that she should be considerate and not deride him with sentences that could have multiple meanings.

"Sorry," she apologized.

At first, he blushed at her choice of words, but then he smiled appreciatively, seeing that she was making an actual effort not to give him a hard and uncomfortable time about it.

"I'll take the floor," he resolved, getting the issue of sleeping arrangements behind them.

He looked at her once more, and this time, he couldn't explain what he was seeing. She looked neither grateful or mad or surprised, her face just remained a blank expression. He hated it when she did that, he could never read her.

"That's gentlemen of you, Clark, but you don't have to. The bed is big enough for the both of us so long as you don't move in your sleep"

"Lois, I don't think…"

"Come on, what's going to happen?" she interrupted. "You and I are… you know… friends"

"Gee, your **enthusiasm** overwhelms me," he quipped.

Lois looks at him boldly. "You know what I meant." She walks to the opposite side of the bed and briefly wondered how that concept worked with a circle, but then she put it aside, the idea was irrelevant to the task they had at hand.

"We're **supposed** to be married." She stopped, shaking her head at what she just said. "I'm never going to get used to saying that, despite the fakeness of it all"

Clark felt disappointed at her proclamation for some reason. In the greater scheme of things, and at some level he wasn't quite ready to admit, her opinion mattered to him.

"Anyway," she continued, breaking Clark out of his tangent of thoughts. "We have to **play** the part, as close as we can at least – no pun intended – so why don't we set up some ground rules so we don't step on each others toes"

This time, Clark couldn't help but chuckle.

"I doubt you'll follow it, Lois"

"Work with me here, Smallville"

"Yes, honey," he grinned.

She looked at him; a proud smile crept at the corner of her lips. "Oh, is **that** how it is," her eyes twinkled, and for a moment, Clark felt like he was in a trance.

For the past year, Clark has seen many sides to Lois Lane, and he was beginning to realize that it was that very same quality that gets him off balanced.

"I'm gonna go freshen up," she teased. He watched her spin around and head to the bathroom, and closed the door after seeing the sight of Lois removing the clip on her hair, making it fall beneath her shoulders.

Clark inhaled deeply, what had they gotten themselves into.

* * *

Three blocks away in a Hotel 6, Chloe Sullivan sat attentively in front of her computer with various equipment situated all over her desk. After hooking everything up; she texts her cousin via cell phone to confirm connection.

It relayed but a simple word.

_Ready?_

Chloe put her headset on, getting ready to communicate with her amateur agents.

"Operation Honeymoon is now in progress," Chloe says with a smile. "Mad Dog, do you read me?" But all she got in return was static.

Chloe tries again. "How about you Farm boy?" She becomes a little worried when there was still no answer. "Come on, guys. Are you there?" she practically demanded.

A clicking sound appears before the voice, finally.

"**Must** we use code names?" her cousin spoke out, her tone slightly agitated. "And **honeymoon**," she scoffs. "Do you want me to **disown** you?"

Chloe ignored her rants and just sighed in relief at hearing her; she had started to fear the worse. "You of all people should know the importance of anonymity. Somebody could be listening in on our frequency," she reminded her.

Another click comes on.

"You could have at least warned us first," another voice adds.

Still in communication, at the Ramada Inn, Clark was failing miserably to properly get the earpiece on. Across from him, Lois stood with her arms crossed and relished watching Clark fidget with the tiny contraption. It was pure comedy.

"Anyway," Lois interrupts, unlike Clark; it didn't take her long to put it on with ease. "What exactly should we be calling you, and **where** in the world did you get Mad Dog?"

Clark smirked while still working his mini-microphone and ear piece.

"Umm…" Then he felt like a fool. The hell with it, he gave up. "Lois, could you help me?"

"Hold on, Cruella, I've got myself a situation," she says teasing her cousin with the name from 101 Dalmatians while imitating a cop as she walked towards her pretend husband.

Clark rolls his eyes, and Chloe laughs on the other line.

"I'm not having a situation," Clark tries to defend his pride. "I'm **just**… distracted," he says as Lois easily adjusted the earpiece and microphone, neither was aware of just how close their proximity to each other was.

"By what?" Chloe wonders aloud.

"Must be the bed," Lois commented as she took a step back.

Chloe raised her eye brows. "Bed?" she asks confusingly.

"It's circular," Lois answered.

But the answer didn't lessen the confusion. "Circular?"

"And pink," Clark pitched in, followed by an unnerving look. He hated that bed.

"You guys aren't doing… anything… um…"

The two caught the implication. "NO!" Lois and Clark say aloud.

Chloe jumped at the sound of her partners protests. God, they were loud and forceful. She cleared her thoughts and corrected her mistake.

"Okay, okay, sorry. I was just making sure," she apologized profusely.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" says Lois.

"I'm sorry, I'm a reporter, I speculate. That was me speculating. Nothing's going on, got it!" Chloe understood loud and clear.

"So long as we got an understanding," Lois responded, clearing her mind as well. "Let's **get** this over with"

"Yes, **please**, lets" Clark agreed, straightening himself.

Then, out of everything that was crazy about the room, a hideous door bell rang out that played to the tune of Britney Spears, 'Hit me baby, one more time.' Lois and Clark stop in complete and utter revulsion.

"What **is** this, a honeymoon suite or the hotel's answer to Pimp My Ride?" Lois remarked with heavy sarcasm. "Not to sound cliché, but we have **so** entered the Twilight Zone."

* * *

About a good hour and a half later, while Lois was getting ready for the party that was taking place in the hotel's ballroom, she recommended Clark to head down first and do a little recon.

He was more than willing to oblige.

Their task was easy. Make contact, find anything incriminating and don't get caught. Yeah, easier said than done, right?

Walking about for almost 10 minutes, he saw dozens of people he thankfully didn't recognize.

All except one.

And he couldn't quite believe it.

There, at the top of the staircase stood Lois Lane, wearing a stunning white dress that hugged her body at all the appropriate places. He has seen her dressed up before, but she was always possessed at the time. Now, it was only her and the vision before him was absolutely breathtaking.

Clark gulped. "Wow," he whispered softly.

"What, Clark?" Chloe questioned. He had forgotten that she was on the other line.

Looking away, "I… uh… was just admiring the place," he stumbled to give her an unsuspecting answer.

"Well then… you… for… 9…" Clark hid himself behind a decorative statue; communications with Chloe had been spotty since entering the ballroom and he couldn't understand a single word she's saying.

"You're breaking up," he says. "Look, look, we'll get back in touch with you later," he tried to say without speaking so loud. He quickly removed the earpiece and microphone, stuffing them in his pocket before straightening his tuxedo to step back out into the ballroom.

And there she was again.

He smiled when he noticed she was having trouble with communicating with Chloe as well, indicative by the way she's moving about, her hand rising up and down but never quite making it to her ear.

"My God, she's gorgeous!" A man with his friend appeared beside him exclaimed; Clark felt the sudden urge to deck him but remained cool. The deviant grabbed a couple of champagne glasses from an incoming waitress with a tray and continued… "Man, I'd love to get a piece of that…"

"She's taken," Clark turns to them, his voice confident and resolute.

"Who the hell are you?"

He took a step forward and smiled taking the champagne glasses from the guy's hands and said, "Her husband." And with that, he left to join his wife on the opposite end, smirking as he did so as the men he left behind looked on, mouths hanging in surprise.

As he made his way closer to her, Clark subtly comes up.

"Care to join me for a drink, Mrs. Cain?" he says, extending a champagne glass to her.

A smile tugged at her lips and she takes it. "I don't mind if I do, Mr. Cain," she replied.

They give each other a brief toast before taking a sip. Clark couldn't help but lean in. "Off the record, you look beautiful," he complimented genuinely.

Lois was momentarily caught off guard at his overture.

She changed gears. "Have you heard from our other musketeer?" she asked pointing to her ear, hoping to alleviate whatever change of atmosphere just occurred between them.

"I lost communication a few minutes ago, but don't worry, she knows. I guess we'll be working in the black for the remainder of this party," he explained.

She chuckled.

"What?" he asks curiously.

"The term is blackout," she corrected, getting a nod from him. "And for the record, you don't look so bad yourself," she smiled, garnering an even bigger smile back from Clark.

There were suddenly at an impasse.

They spent the next two hours looking for their target and to no avail, he didn't show up, not the two minded so much, they were getting a lot of free stuff out of this mission.

As they waited for the elevator to come to a stop, it abruptly halts.

"What the..." says Lois.

"Lois," Clark says. "I think we're stuck"

_Oh for crying out loud... _she thought.

**To be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

In the elevator, Lois was fiercely pressing the call button to get somebody on the line and tell her what's going on. The lights flickered off then flickered lazily back on. She looked up, exhausted and annoyed.

"This. Is. Not. Happening"

Clark shifted in his tux, untying the bow he knotted too tightly. "Look, it's probably just a minor glitch," he says in a lame attempt to calm things down.

It didn't work.

"Minor **glitch**," she says disbelievingly. "We're **stuck** in an elevator." She paused when a sudden thought entered her mind. Searching through her purse she finds her cell phone, but not a single reception bar showed. She sighs. "With **no** communication," she finished with increase agitation.

"No one would leave us down here"

"Says you," she retorts.

Sighing himself, Clark took it upon himself to use his x-ray and super hearing to see what's really going on. It turns out, it's a blackout and at the moment, everything is on a standstill.

"You think it's a blackout?" Clark suggested, although he knew that was the reason.

Lois throws her arms out in indignation. "Great, then we'll be here an awfully long time!" She was not looking forward to being stuck in an elevator with Clark Kent of all people for God knows how long.

Clark raises his eyebrow. "Seems to me this is not a new experience for you," he observed, un-tucking his white collared dress t-shirt as he did so. He was never fond of dressing up, he always felt constricted with that many layers of clothing on.

Unbeknownst to him, Lois was feeling the same way.

Lois avoided his comment. "Here." She dropped her purse and turned, her back facing Clark and he looks at her uneasily.

"What?" he asks, unsure of what Lois wanted him to do.

"Help me out of this"

Clark's eyes go wide. "Excuse me"

"It's really easy, Smallville. You see that tiny zipper on my dress… if it had been simple mathematics, you would have to zip it down," she quipped waiting for him to do so. What was taking him so long? He can't honestly be that shy.

"You mean here?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "No, I was thinking you can boost me up to the ceiling so I can change in the shaft, **yes** here!"

"Lois, I don't think…"

Lois abruptly spun around. "I'm asking you to help me unzip my dress, not ravage me,  
she assured him, but her use of the term 'ravage' made Clark blush embarrassingly.

"I…"

Lois couldn't help but smile when he became tongue tied. She spun around, intentionally neglecting his awkward circumstance. So many years spent being the child of a highly revered military officer has taught Lois a great deal about confidence.

She was hardly embarrassed.

"Come on, as great as this outfit is, if we wait any longer I'll suffocate"

Clark took a deep breath and lifted his hand to the zipper, but as his hand barely grazed her flesh, he stopped when he realized something.

"Wait a second, what have you got under there?" he questioned too briskly that Lois couldn't help but be amused.

She looked over her shoulder with a grin. "Nothing"

"Lois!"

"**Relax**, I **was** just kidding. I've got a strapless bra on. Man, you're jumpy." She looked back and waited for him to do what he seems to think is impossible.

Clark, looking away, quickly unzipped her. "There," he says hurriedly.

"Thanks," she says honestly. Then she thought that it was one small step from Clark and a giant step for his sex life.

If the elevator wasn't surrounded by mirrors, avoiding a half naked Lois would've been a lot easier for him, but alas, fate was against him.

"Are you cold?" he asked her, mildly nervous.

Lois just stood at her side of the elevator, obviously unaware of how beautiful she is because she made no move to taunt him with it. She seemed to be doing a swell job of it by doing nothing, and that unnerved him.

When Clark notices her slightly shiver, being the son his parents raised, Clark immediately removed his jacket, and then worked on getting his dress shirt off.

Lois being Lois just stood there watching, her eyes gazing at him from top to bottom. "I'd ask what you were doing, but honestly, I'm a warm blooded female, I'm not going to refuse a show when there is one," she teased lightly.

Clark continued to unbutton his shirt. "Why am I not surprised," he commented. Whatever trace of shyness he had left was no longer present now that they were somewhat, as screwed up as it is, on a level playing field.

He throws his shirt at her, and Lois' reflex quickly catches it. As if she knew what he was doing, she said but a single word.

"Thanks"

Clark smiled despite himself.

"You're welcome." He took a moment to look at her wearing his shirt. "You look good," he added.

She looked at herself and nodded agreeably. "What can I say, white's my color"

_Some Time Later_

Lois and Clark sat side-by-side on the rear wall, facing the closed elevator door. They had removed any unnecessary clothing to keep themselves from cooking to death. It may be too strong of a word, but since the power went out, so did the air-conditioning.

And they realized that two good-looking people with warm bodies weren't helping their predicament.

In an attempt to not think about their situation, they were indulging in mere chit-chat for the last thirty minutes.

"And that's how I ended up with bad attendance." Lois just finished explaining to Clark the very reason she had to repeat her last semester at Smallville High.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Clark sympathized. "It seemed at first glance that she had a good head on her shoulders"

"Lucy is smart, I know that and I'm proud of that too but she lacks common sense," Lois sadly admitted. Their conversation shifted from talking about their high school experiences to Lois' drifter baby sister, Lucy Lane.

"What about you?" Clark asks, genuinely curious.

"What about me?"

"You're smart, funny and resourceful. Why don't you take yourself seriously?"

Lois looks at him with a mix expression and Clark sees it.

"What?" he shrugged.

"Three compliments in one sentence." She put a hand to his shoulder and says, "You **must** be exhausted"

Clark laughs.

Lois suddenly looks away, and Clark caught the genuine smile on her face. Out of nowhere, he reached out with his hand and led her face back towards him where he leaned in and kissed her.

It didn't end there.

Because she kissed him back.

Their kiss was frenzied, unplanned, crazy and completely satisfying. They stood up, their warm bodies pressed against each other and breaths quickening. Time stopped and they neglected the consequences.

They've covered practically every wall of the elevator, and Clark was completely releasing himself in her embrace.

This was getting out of hand.

But neither did anything to stop it.

Until fate stepped in

_Ding. _

The lights flickered off and on again and the air-conditioning came on at full blast, jumping both Lois and Clark out of each other's lustful passion.

"What just happened?" Lois mumbled, the air not quite reaching her lungs quite yet.

Breathing heavily himself, Clark opened his mouth but then closed it as he realized the elevator began moving.

Like having a psychic bond, "Oh God," they say simultaneously.

The elevator door opened and Lois and Clark nonchalantly exited passing various different guests towards the main hall. There were people whispering amongst themselves and giving the couple curious glances, and the fact that neither of them was dressed in their formal attire aroused even more suspicion.

Lois held her dress gown and purse in one hand while the other held her shoes.

Clark followed besides her with unruly hair and a t-shirt with his tux jacket swung over behind him with his hand. Lois kept his button-downed dress shirt.

They could only imagine what everyone was thinking.

And their line of thinking wasn't far from the truth; actually, if you could measure the truth in distance, it'd be a foot, probably even less.

"Aren't we going to talk about this?" Clark asks watching her a staircase away, his voice echoing in their tight surroundings as they climbed the stairs.

"About what?" she evaded.

"We kissed," he reminded her, the memory still very fresh, clear and all too vivid in his mind. He made no effort to make it disappear.

"No we didn't," Lois lied unapologetically.

"Yes we did." Clark didn't back down but why he kept pursuing the matter was beyond his own scope of understanding.

She sighed. "You kissed me," she says.

"My memory is a little spotty right now, but I **do** recall you kissing me back"

"I think you've had one too many drinks with the bubbly," she continued to naturally ignore the inevitable.

"I'm not drunk, Lois"

"Well, maybe I am"

He shrugs defiantly. "Yeah right! I've seen you drink. A couple of glasses of cheap champagne is orange juice to you," he argued, remembering very well the amount of alcohol intake it would take to bring Lois down.

It's a lot.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Did you regret it?" he questioned.

A relationship with Lois Lane was the last thing Clark imagined, but he still wanted to know.

"No comment"

"So you didn't," he just about declared.

"No comment," Lois keeps saying.

"So you regretted it?"

She stops and turns to him. "What part of **no** and **comment** don't you understand?" She turned back around and continued to climb the zigzagged staircase. They shouldn't have requested the 10th floor. "**God**, it's like talking to a wall," she commented loudly.

"You're leaving me with little room to breathe, Lois"

"Then **go** outside," she yelled but not turning.

Clark just looks at her with feelings of disdain, disbelief and awe. No woman should have this much power over him, least of all Lois Lane.

Upon reaching their room, finally, Clark was impressed that Lois wasn't struggling with her breathing. Actually, she was remarkably fit for someone he always thought was lazy. He noticed on the way up that she paced herself and kept to a steady rhythm.

"Are you hungry?"

"No"

"Want me to order room service?" he continued asking absentmindedly.

Lois crinkled her nose. "What, you're hard of hearing now too?"

Clark was beginning to think so. "Are you angry I kissed you?" He finally got the guts to ask.

"No!" she replied, surprising Clark.

"Then why are you angry?" he says softly.

Lois had in internal debate going in her head. She figured, be honest for once you know, not that she's ever been dishonest.

"I'm angry because…" Clark was hanging by her every word. She continued. "Because I kissed you back. There!" She spun around and headed to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her before Clark could even say a word.

Clark sat on the hideous circular bed waiting for Lois to come out of the bathroom. She's been in there for an hour now. He heard the faucet run and then shut off, and after that, it was pretty much silent.

He forced himself not to x-ray through the door and see how she was doing.

He opted to knock instead. "Lois, are you all right?"

"Yeah," he heard.

Thinking of some ridiculous excuse he was sure she would call him on, he says, "I need… to brush my teeth"

Getting ready for the inevitable, he was surprised by the answer.

"Okay"

Clark blinked. He blinked twice actually. Is Lois inviting him in? No, of course not, he asked to brush his teeth.

Shaking his head, he slowly turned the knob, giving her the time to change her mind. When she didn't, he cautiously stepped in and was ambushed with an amazing scent of lilac permeating throughout the room.

Apparently, Lois had given herself a bubble bath and he couldn't stop himself from staring until it was too late.

"Want to join me?" she says in a genuine tone that had Clark thinking twice before answering.

"You serious?""

She nods. "Plenty of room"

"You do realize this entire mission has gone to hell, right?"

"Hence why I'm taking full advantage of the perks," she replies gesturing to the space opposite sure. "Don't go shy on my account, Smallville. You've got nothing I haven't already seen," she says with a smirk.

"I doubt it," he responded with a smirk of his own.

Lois smiled at his sudden spike of confidence. "So are you going to join me or not? It's getting awfully lonely in here"

"Lois, I don't think… I've never done… this… anything like this." His confidence suddenly fell as flat as a note on a music sheet.

She gave out a low chuckle but nothing that expressed that she was teasing him. "I know," she says. "But we're not doing anything wrong, it's just a bath," she assured.

"Somehow, jumping into a hot tub with a half naked girl who isn't eve my girlfriend is anything **but** wrong," he says unconvinced.

She smiled again. "You're absolutely right," she nodded matter-of-factly.

"I am?"

She raised a champagne glass Clark didn't notice was there before. "It's a good thing I'm not wearing anything," she adds with a grin.

Clark inhaled deeply, she wasn't making it easy for him to say no.

Then he gave himself a few more seconds of careful contemplating until he went against everything he was ever taught growing up, and he did so out of his own free will and in mere seconds.

After awkwardly removing his clothes, he climbed inside the hot tub opposite Lois, who didn't at all seem to feel as awkward as he did.

She hands him a glass.

"Thanks," he says.

A moment passed when Lois begins talking.

"I'm leaving," she revealed much to Clark's surprised.

"What?"

She nodded. "You asked me earlier why I don't take my life seriously. The truth is; the future was a lot easier to avoid when no one expected anything from you. Moving from country to country, it just wasn't important to me"

"And now?"

"Watching my sister throw her life away because she lacked The General's attention was just… stupid," she explained with a laugh. Clark smiled as she continued. "That was really stupid of her, wasn't it," she growled in aggravation.

They continued to laugh. Then her voice turns soft and calm. "And then I see you"

Clark points to himself. "Me?"

She nods. "And Chloe. Seeing you two so excited about the next year kind of rubbed off on me, you know"

"See, I **knew** you liked me in there somewhere," he teased.

Lois kicks him and he groaned. "Oh my god, I'm sorry," she apologized, leaning forward, their upper bodies practically centimeters away from each other. "Are you all right?" she continued worriedly.

Clark pretended to be hurt and opened one eye to indicate otherwise. He holds his laughter for a second before bursting out in laughs.

"Oh… Oh… That was low," she says, splashing water to his face.

Clark was more than happy to return the favor and splashed water her was as well. "Any lower, and it would be," he replied playfully.

As they were splashing water all over the place, Clark reached for her and pulled her in, her arms wrapping around his neck and his hands slowly fell to her sides to guide her legs around his waist beneath the bubbled water.

If the elevator incident was any indication, the place they found themselves in now was literally dangerous waters.

Clark could feel himself rising and he swallowed hard.

Neither was breaking eye contact, but both were much too aware of each other's actions and reactions. Newton's Third Law never made more sense than it did this moment.

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

Getting lost in one another's intense gaze was enough to make both of them lose control.

Clark caressed her softly from place to place with kisses preceding it. He feels her tighten and he relished the feelings she can so easily invoke in him.

The water surrounding them in their quiet passion had become calm, hearing only the soft sounds of droplets.

The experience was beyond amazing… and they both gave in.

_Ring_

Ring

The sudden sound of Clark's cell phone startled him awake. Rubbing his eyes, he was greeted by warm sunlight piercing its way through the half-closed blinds.

Then realization hit him.

Last night.

Could it all been a dream?

His question was answered when he felt another person next to him move slightly.

Not a dream.

Clark turned and was overwhelmed.

A smile broke his way onto his face as he continued to watch her sleep and remembering what had happened between them the night before brought back even more feelings.

Is there really more to them than friendship?

_Ring_

Ring

The cell phone continued to sound off.

"Uhh…" Lois moaned, barely waking gripping the sheets tighter around her.

Clark grinned, looks like he wasn't the only one disturbed.

He finally picks up his phone. "Hello," he says almost too excitedly.

"Clark! Where **have** you been? I've been trying to call your cells for hours!" Chloe yelled from the other line.

Clark was dazed for a moment before answering.

"Chloe." He paused, looking back to Lois lying peacefully asleep next to him. "Chloe!" It dawned on him. "Hey, good morning," he added sort of nervously.

"What happened? I was worried," Chloe says.

Clark looked around himself. "We had a minor setback." He got out of bed slowly, his flesh suddenly exposed. He took a deep breath. Last night had definitely been real.

He quickly made his way to the bathroom, Lois' scent still lingered. He cleared his head and shifted his cell to the other ear, cradling it with his shoulder as he quickly put his boxers on. Chloe had said a long string of words he completely missed out on.

"Chloe!" he interrupted. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the lobby, I'll be there in a few minutes"

Clark's eyes go wide, almost tripping to get out of the bathroom. Chloe is here. Oh no. Clark looked around frantic at the mess, memories of last night the reason for it.

He raked through his hair thinking up a game plan. As Chloe began talking again, he looked one more time at Lois to make sure she was still asleep. When she was, he put his cell atop a nearby shelf and went ahead to do some speed cleaning.

Seconds later, he put the phone back to his ear. "Uh huh. Yeah," he mumbled to Chloe still talking. He really had no idea what she was talking about.

He sees Lois stir awake.

"Clark…" she spoke softly.

Clark immediately cut her off by slashing a gesture across his throat. 'Chloe' he mouthed, pointing to the phone. Lois' eyes sprung awake at the implications.

Lois was fast to wrap the bed sheets around her and frantically searched to put her clothes on. As she did so, she was a bit surprised to see the room look so clean.

A few seconds later, with their bearing still in tact, they hear a knock on the door.

Like a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Clark sprung upright and Lois leads to open the door.

"Hey Chloe!" she greeted forcefully. She knew she was going to hell.

"What's up with you?" Chloe says, noting her cousin's odd behavior. Once she took a look at the room, and the thing in the center of it, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"See!" Clark exclaimed, point to the bed.

Still brushing off the sudden wake-up call, Lois rolled her eyes in amusement. He didn't complain about any of that last night.

"So, Chloe, what's up?" Lois began. The sooner they finish this, the less inclined she is to dwell on it.

"Like I was telling Clark here, I was worried when you two didn't call me last night"

Lois looked at Clark silently asking with her eyes what she was talking about. He only shook his head and shrugging. He had no idea what Chloe had been talking to him about since she called.

"There's a **perfectly** good reason," Lois quickly explained, pushing particular events from the previous night out of her thoughts.

"A very good reason," Clark jumped in to agree.

"The lights went out"

"And the elevator couldn't move," he added.

"The whole building wasn't working right," Lois gestured to the place.

Chloe sighed. "I know this mission sucks for you two and all, but I expected a better excuse than that," she says a little disappointed.

Lois and Clark's eyes narrow at her words.

"Did you two **do** anything at all?" Chloe berated.

"Chloe!" Lois was a bit offended, totally forgetting about her and Clark's tryst.

"The power **did** go out!" Clark says, and as if things couldn't get any worse, he sees a Trojan wrapper behind her left heel.

Clark stiffens.

He turned away from Chloe briefly to signal Lois about another problem.

She couldn't understand a single thing he was trying to communicate with her.

"What's **wrong** with you two?" Chloe observed. They were both acting more weird than usual.

"What… nothing… it was a rough night," Lois lied, and she didn't like it one bit. "Look Chlo, we're really sorry." They really were. "We'll find something, I promise." Clark backed to the other side and pretended to drop something. He quickly swipes the wrapper off the floor and shoved it in his pocket.

"You won't have to," Chloe says, leaving Lois confused. "Turns out the anonymous tip gave me the wrong hotel. The paper already has someone over there. I'm a complete bust!" she adds, slumping down on the bed.

Lois sympathizes. "I'm sorry," and held her cousin in a hug.

"This seemed so much easier in high school," Chloe admitted.

"Just give it time," Lois encouraged.

_Half an hour later…_

"That was close," Clark breathed out a sigh or relief when Chloe left, leaving him and Lois to pack up and leave too.

"What the **hell** were you talking about earlier?"

Clark was embarrassed to show her. He couldn't understand why since they've both seen more of each other in the last 24 hours than they have since they've met. Thinking back to how they first met… or not.

He took out what he hid in his pants pocket.

"Oh man," Lois says seeing the wrapper in his hand. "Okay, that was close"

"Isn't that what I just said," he says. Lois always seems to take to things better than him.

"Look," Lois attempts to point out. "Last night… was… great," she had to admit. I mean, it was great; there can't be any tiptoeing around that.

"But…"

"But it **can't** happen again. I mean, come on. We can barely stand each other.

"You'll have to explain that a little more in depth for me," Clark says surprised with himself that he wouldn't let her go that easily.

Lois stood her ground. "What is there to explain?"

"More, actually," answered Clark. "First it was the elevator, and now last night. I'm **not** just going to forget about it like it never happened"

"You don't like me," she reminded him.

"Just because we can't stand each other some times didn't mean I dislike you. On the contrary, I like our verbal matches"

"This is crazy"

"And last night wasn't? Lois, I was happy last night." She stopped to express his thoughts more fluidly. "I've been happy all weekend… even before," he says genuinely. "Maybe there's something here between us"

"The only thing here is our hormones, the real world awaits us…" she points to the window. "Out there"

"Okay, fine," he says doing it her way for now. A new wave of confidence was flowing inside him. "You keep running away, and I'll keep pursuing"

"And what if I never stop?" she couldn't help but play it his way as well.

Clark this time didn't say anything and just smirked at her. They may not be ready for it now, but people change… they grow… and he knew that he and Lois had a lot of growing to do as people. Last night confirmed to him that he's willing to wait forever if he had to.

"After you, Mrs. Cain," Clark says gesturing to the exit of their suite using their alias.

Lois grinned; he certainly wasn't taking his time nor was he not making it easy to resist him.

"Very well then, Mr. Cain," she returned his gaze.

The future was looking mighty interesting for them both.

**The End**


End file.
